ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



19 



divorce except in the case of fornication or 

 adultery, or sanction the marriage of a person 

 divorced, contrary to this la\v, during the life 

 of the other party ; that the guilty party, in 

 case of a divorce for fornication or adultery, 

 can in no case during the life of the other party 

 be regarded as a fit recipient of the blessing of 

 the Church on marriage, but that the privi- 

 leges of the Church should not be refused to 

 innocent parties thus married under civil sanc- 

 tion ; that persons living in polygamy should 

 not be admitted to baptism, but that they be 

 accepted as candidates and kept under Chris- 

 tian instruction until such time as they shall be 

 in a position to accept the law of Christ ; 

 while the wives of polygamists may be ad- 

 mitted to baptism, but it must be left to the 

 local authorities of the Church to decide under 

 what circumstances they may be baptized. 

 The growing laxity in the observance of the 

 Lord's Day. and especially the increasing prac- 

 tice of making it a day of secular enjoyment, 

 are deprecated, and it is resolved "that the 

 most careful regard should be had to the dan- 

 ger of any encroachment upon the rest which. 

 on this day, is the right of the working-classes 

 as well as of their employers." The opinion 

 of the Conference was expressed that no par- 

 ticular portion of the Church should undertake 

 revision of the Book of Common Prayer with- 

 out serious consideration of the possible effect 

 of such action on other branches of the Church. 

 The following articles were suggested as sup- 

 plying a basis on which approach may be made 

 toward " home reunion " : 



The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 

 ments as ""containing all things necessary to salva- 

 tion," and as being the rule and ultimate standard 

 of faith; the Apostles' Creed as the baptismal sym- 

 bol, and the Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement 

 of tbe Christian faith ; the two sacraments ordained 

 by Christ himself baptism and the Supper of the 

 L'ord ministered with unfailing use of Christ's words 

 of institution, and of the elements ordained by him ; 

 the historic episcopate, locally adapted in the meth- 

 ods of its administration to the varying needs of the 

 nations and peoples called of God" info the unity of 

 his Church. 



The Conference requested the constituted 

 authorities of the various branches of the 

 communion : 



Actinsr, so far as may be, in concert with one an- 

 other, to make it known that they hold themselves in 

 readiness to enter into brotherly" conference (such as 

 that which has already been proposed by the Church 

 in the United States of America) with the representa- 

 tives of other Christian communions in the English- 

 speaking races, in order to consider what steps can be 

 taken either toward separate reunion, or toward such 

 relations as may prepare the way for fuller organic 

 unity hereafter. " 



With expressions of sympathy and fraternal 

 interest toward the Scandinavian Church, the 

 Old Catholic Church of Holland, the Old Cath- 

 olic Community of Germany, the "Christian 

 Catholic Church" in Switzerland, the Old 

 Catholics in Austria, and the Reformers in 

 Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, the Confer- 

 ence. ' without desiring to interfere with the 



rights of bishops of the Catholic Church to 

 interpose in cases of extreme necessity," depre- 

 cated any action that does not regard primitive 

 and established principles of jurisdiction and 

 the interests of the whole Anglican Commun- 

 ion. The question of relations with the Mo- 

 ravian Church was remitted to a committee 

 and to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Hope 

 was expressed that the barriers to fuller com- 

 munion with the Eastern Churches and juris- 

 dictions might, in course of time, be removed 

 by further intercourse and extended enlight- 

 enment. The Archbishop of Canterbury was 

 requested to consider whether it is desirable to 

 revise the English version of the Nicene Creed 

 and the Quicunque Vult (Athanasian Creed). 

 Lastly it was resolved : 



That, as regards newly constituted churches, espe- 

 cially in non-Christian lands, it should be a condition 

 of the recognition of them as in complete intercom- 

 munion with us, and especially of their receiving from 

 us episcopal succession, that "we should first receive 

 from them satisfactory evidence that they hold sub- 

 stantially the same doctrine as our own, and that their 

 clergy subscribe articles in accordance with the ex- 

 press statements of our own standards of doctrine and 

 worship; but that they should not necessarily be 

 bound to accept in theirentirety the thirty-nine Arti- 

 cles of Religion. 



Chnrch Congress, The twenty-eighth Church 

 Congress met at Manchester, October 1. The 

 Bishop of Manchester presided, and the open- 

 ing sermon was preached by the Archbishop 

 of York. The president, in opening the dis- 

 cussions, spoke of the value of the Congress as 

 an instrument for creating enlightened public 

 opinion ; in which, by bringing men of differ- 

 ent opinions together, and giving them equal 

 opportunities to present their views, it had 

 advantages over the press. On the subject, 

 'To what Extent should Results of Histori- 

 cal and Scientific Criticisms, especially of the 

 Old Testament, be recognized in Sermons and 

 Teachings," the Rev. j. M. Wilson declared 

 that the clergy must tell the truth, and the 

 whole truth ; the Dean of Peterborough sought 

 a definition of the results of criticism ; and the 

 president considered the introduction of diffi- 

 cult questions of criticism into the ordinary 

 teachings of the pulpit very undesirable. In 

 the discussion of the question, " How to sup- 

 ply the Defects of the Parochial System by 

 Means of Evangelizing Work," the Rev. W. 

 Carlisle, founder of the Church Army, de- 

 scribed the working methods of that organiza- 

 tion. Other subjects discussed, with the princi- 

 pal speakers upon them, were : " The Chnrch in 

 Wales (Mr. J. Dilwyn Llewellen, on "Tithes." 

 the Dean of St. Asaph, on "The Work of the 

 Church "); "The Duty of the Church to Sea- 

 men " (on which persons particularly interest- 

 ed in mission work among seamen gave the 

 results of their experience and observations) ; 

 "Positivism; its Truths and Fallacies" (the 

 Rev. W. Cunningham, the Rev. C. L. Eng- 

 strom, and Mr. A. J. Balfour) : "The Needs 

 of Human Nature, and their Supply in Chris- 



